Wall construction and sound attenuation means therefor



June 3, 1969 w, w, VAUGHAN ETAL 3,447,275

WALL CONSTRUCTION AND SOUND ATTENUA'I'ION MEANS THEREFOR Sheet Filed lay 18, 1966 I00 200 300 .500 1000 I200 5W0 FREQUENCY IN CR9 N/M & 2 E wmmsw NWH T W T AM M i RM M M15 i ML,

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Mm P United States Patent 3,447,275 WALL CONSTRUCTION AND SOUND ATTENUATION MEANS THEREFOR Wayne W. Vaughan, Malibu, Richard R. Wilson, Van Nuys, Paul B. Powell, Jr., Downey, and Lloyd S. Henry, Montrose, Calif., assignors to Vaughan Interior Walls, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Filed May 18, 1966, Ser. No. 550,986 Int. Cl. E0411 1 82, 2/08, N99

US. Cl. 52-582 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a sound attenuated non-load bearing partion wall construction and, more particularly, to a sound attenuation means useful in wall constructions for increasing sound transmission loss in audible sound frequency ranges.

Prior proposed partition walls, particularly for office, commercial and residential installations have included various types of constructions designed to reduce the transmission of sound from one side to the other side of a wall. Such prior constructions have included hollow walls filled with sound insulation material of various types, double wall arrangements with selected air space between such double walls, or the provision of an auxiliary wall spaced from a primary wall to afford a required reduction in sound transmission. Desired objectives have generally not been achieved by use of sound insulation material in such walls. Double wall construction has required additional space and material, increase in floor loads, and additional labor expenses for installation. The use of additional floor area for relatively thick double wall constructions is objectionable because of the decrease in floor area available for useful purposes. In such prior proposed sound wall constructions, particularly in offices, speech privacy was usually not achieved, that is, suflicient sound transmission loss was not obtained in the speech frequency ranges, namely, between 500 to 1,000 cycles per second.

In general, sound transmission from one side to the other side of a partition wall is effected by openings in the partition wall, refraction of sound waves between different materials in the wall construction, conduction through the wall materials, and resonance or diaphragm action of spaced apart wall panels forming a hollow wall construction. It is well known that openings in such a partition wall may be readily closed (and sound transmission reduced) by suitable materials, as for example, caulking compounds and compressible soft yieldable resilient gasket material, such as polyethylene foamor other plastic materials which preferably remain relatively soft. Transmission losses by refraction between different materials are generally small and negligible. Transmission of sound by conduction may be relatively great and such transmission may be reduced by various types of sound insulation material. Transmission of sound by resonance of the wall or wall panels is also relatively great.

The present invention contemplates 'a novel sound wall ice construction and sound attenuation means therefor which is directed to the reduction of resonance of the wall so that frequencies being transmitted by the wall are dampened with a resultant sound transmission loss, particularly at audible or voice frequency ranges. The sound attenuation means of the present invention is readily manufactured and installed, either as a stud member, in association with a pro-formed core means, and as part of a hollow sound wall construction which avoids the disads vantages of the double wall construction mentioned hereinabove.

The primary object of the present invention is to disclose and provide a novel non-load bearing partition sound wall construction and sound attenuation means therefor which serves to increase sound transmission loss.

An object of the invention is to disclose and provide a hollow non-load bearing movable sound wall partition in which sound transmission is substantially reduced by means including a novel sound attenuation member.

Another object of the invention is to disclose and provide a sound partition wall panel assembly which may be readily assembled either in the factory or on the job.

Another object of the invention is to disclose and pro- Vide a sound attenuation means adapted for use in hollow wall panel constructions wherein resonant frequencies of the wall panels are dampened by such sound attenuation means for decreasing sound transmission through the wall in audible voice frequency ranges.

A further object of the present invention is to disclose and provide a sound attenuation member which may also be used as a stud member.

A further object of the present invention is to disclose and provide several embodiments of a sound attenuation member which facilitates installation and erection of a hollow sound partition wall.

Various other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description of the drawings in which exemplary embodiments of the present invention are shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a wall construc tion embodying my invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken in the plane indicated by line IIII of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken in the plane indicated by line IH--III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a sound attenuation spacer member embodying this invention.

FIG. 5 is a chart indicating sound loss in decibels at various voice frequencies of the wall construction of this invention as compared to two prior well-known partition wall constructions. 1

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken in a plane similar to that of FIG. 2 and showing a modification of a wall construction embodying my invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective fragmentary view of a sound attenuation member employed in the construction shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a further modification of a sound attenuation member embodying my invention.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view of a wall construction embodying my invention and illustrating still another form of a sound attenuation member embodying my invention and employed as a stud.

In the wall construction generally indicated at 15, FIG. 1, a plurality of wall panel means 16 may be arranged between a floor 17 and a ceiling 18 in a vertical planar zone. Each panel means 16 (FIG. 3) may be po- 3 sitioned and located on floor 17 by a suitable channelsection interior-type floor runner 20 removably fixed to floor 17. Top edge margins of panel means 16 may be positioned above floor runner 20 by a ceiling runner 21 comprising a web 22 spaced from ceiling 18 and interconnecting vertically disposed side flanges 23 and 24. Side flange 24 is relatively short as compared to flange 23 and a molding strip 25 of the same width as flange 23 may cover fiange 24 and adjacent surfaces of panel 16. The floor and ceiling runners 20 and 21 of course may be of any suitable length and width, depending upon the length and thickness of the partition wall to be erected.

Each panel 16 may comprise a pair of panel members 27 of suitable material, such as gypsum or plasterboard in sheet or panel form. Each panel member has an exterior surface 28 which may be provided with a decorative surface as by painting or by aflixing thereto a wood veneer, vinyl or fabric coverings. Each panel surface 28 may be beveled at 29 along vertical edges to provide a vertical V-joint between adjacent panels. Each panel means 16 may be hollow with a chamber 30 extending from floor runner 20 to ceiling runner 21 .and horizontally to core means 31. Within chamber 30 may be provided a suitable sound insulating material 30a, such as wood fiber, insulation board, synthetic insulation batts, or the like.

Each core means 31 may include preassembled spaced core sections 32 secured as by suitable adhesive bonding at 33 to interior marginal surfaces of panel members 27. Along one edge of panel means 16, a core means 31 may project outwardly at 34 to provide a longitudinal tongue means which may be received within a mating longitudinal groove 35 provided between interior surfaces 33 of adjacent panel members 27 and mating core means 37 of the adjacent panel means 16. Such core means 37 may be secured at 38 to interior surfaces of wall panels 27 by suitable adhesive bonding at longitudinal internal surfaces spaced inwardly from longitudinal edges of panel means 16.

In this embodiment of the invention, each core means 31 and 37 may comprise, in addition to core sections 32, a sound attenuation spacer means 40 of the present inven-- tion. Sound attenuation means 40 comprises a spacer member 41 of suitable metal, such as steel, which may be rolled into the cross-sectional configuration illustrated in FIG. 4. Spacer member 41 may comprise a pair of spaced side walls 42 in parallel juxtaposed relation and having outer faces 43 seated as at 44 against internal surfaces 45 of core sections 32. Side walls 42 may be secured to such surfaces 45 as by suitable adhesive bonding, a plurality of spaced perforations 46 being provided in side walls 42 with respect to core sections 32. The spacer member 41 extends for the length of core sections 32 which is substantially the length or height of wall panel means 16.

Each spacer member 41 also includes a bottom or longitudinal edge wall 48 of an elongated loop or U-section of reduced width extending in one direction from and lying between the planes defined by side walls 42. Angularly disposed or inclined portions 49 interconnect wall 48 with side walls 42. It will thus be apparent that longitudinal edge wall 48 is in spaced relation to interior surfaces 45 of core sections 32 and that side walls 42 are resiliently yieldably interconnected by such U-section wall In this example, the position of spacer member 41 is illustrated as being centrally between longitudinal edges of core sections 32. It is understood of course that spacer member 41 may be located either closer or farther away from one of the edges of the core means as hereafter more fully described.

A wall construction 15 formed of a plurality of interlocked panel means 16 and positioned in a vertical zone by floor and ceiling runners 20 and 21 may be further sound-mooted by pp y g a su a le cau i g, ga et or filler material in the space 50 between the web 22 and the ceiling surface. Caulking of bottom joints as between the floor runner 20 and the short upstanding flanges of the floor runner in spaces 51 may also be provided to prevent the transmission of sound through openings at the bottom of the panel means 16. It will thus be apparent that wall construction 15 comprises laterally spaced parallel juxtaposed wall panels which are interconnected at longitudinally spaced intervals by resilient sound attenuation members 40. Sound waves impinging on the exterior surfaces 28 of the panel means 16 set up vibrations in panel member 27 and such vibrations are transmitted to the sound attenuation spacer member 40. Since member 40 has a resilient wall 48 which is free from the interior wall surfaces of the panels, such sound vibrations are effectively dampened and absorbed by the resiliency of bottom U-section wall 48 of each spacer member 40.

A wall constructed in accordance with applicants above described invention exhibits increased sound attenuation characteristics as compared to standard constructed movable non-load bearing partition walls as described hereafter.

In FIG. 5, a chart shows sound transmission loss characteristics for two well known wall partition constructions as well as the sound wall construction 15 of this invention. In FIG. 5, the abscissa is calibrated logarithmically in terms of frequencies in cycles per second, normal voice frequency range lying between c.p.s. and 4,000 or 5,000 c.p.s. The ordinate of the chart is calibrated to show sound transmission loss in decibels.

A partition wall having the sound loss characteristics indicated by line A on said chart was obtained from a three-inch laminated partition wall construction comprising exterior panel members of As-inch gypsum board, a solid l-inch gypsum board core member between said panels, and a Kr-inch mineral fiber sound deadening board. It will be noted that at frequencies of about 200 c.p.s. the sound loss in decibels is only about 21 or 22 db; at 1,000 c.p.s. the sound transmission loss is about 30 db and at 4,000 c.p.s. the sound transmission loss is about 48 db.

' The curve shown by line B was obtained from a known partition wall having three inch total thickness and comprising a pair of %-inch gypsum panels, a 78-inch gypsum sluter and a /2-inch gypsum core extending the full width of the panel and laminated at the sluters only. A sluter is gypsum section similar to core section 32 as shown in FIG. 2. Such a partition wall has more favorable sound transmission loss characteristics between about 300 c.p.s. and 1,200 c.p.s. as compared to the curve A.

In this respect, it should be noted that since movable partition walls are commonly employed in oflices, apartment buildings and industrial establishments, the sound frequencies which are particularly not desired to be transmitted or which should be dampened, occurs in voice frequency ranges between 500 to 1,000 c.p.s. In the curve shown by line C, which represents sound transmission loss characteristics of the above described'partition wall construction embodying this invention, it will be noted that between 200 and 1,200 c.p.s. curve C is spaced substantially above curves A and B and represents a sound transmission loss differential varying between about 13 db loss and 10 db loss. Thus at 1,000 cycles, curve C has a sound transmission db loss of about 50. It will thus be apparent that the partition wall construction embodying the present invention shows a greatly increased sound transmission loss in the speech privacy range of between about 500 and 1,000 cycles per second.

In FIG. 6 is illustrated a modification of this invention in which the wall panel means 16' may be of a construction similar to that in FIG. 2 with respect to the wall panel members 27, and core means 31' including the core s ctions. 32'. The sound a enuation spa r means 40' differs however in the manner in which it is associated with or attached to panel members 27.

In this embodiment of the invention, the core means 31' includes a sound attenuation spacer member 41 located adjacent to edges of core means 31 forming the tongue of panel means 16'. Sound attenuation member 41 may include the basic configuration of FIG. 4 with respect to side walls 42', the interconnecting resilient bottom or edge wall 48' and inclined portions 49'. The side walls 42' may be seated against interior surfaces of the core sections 32 and secured thereto by suitable adhesive as in the prior embodiment. The outer longitudinal edges of side Walls 42' may be provided with laterally outwardly extending T section portions 60 in which the stem 61 and head 62 of the T form a longitudinally extending recess 63 with a side wall 42 for reception of edge 64 of core section 32'. Core means 31 may be thus assembled as above with sound attenuation spacer member 41 secured thereto. Outer flange 65 of the T section head 64 may be received between edge portion 66 of adjacent core section 32' and interior face 45' of adjacent wall panel means 16'.

Thus, in assembly a wall panel 16' having the tongue core section 31 provided with sound attenuation means 40' may be assembled with the panel members 27' and when the two adjacent panel means 16' are moved into assembled relation, flange portion 65 will interlock with edge portion 66 of the adjacent core section 32' on the adjacent panel means 16'. Sound attenuation member 41 functions in virtually the same manner as in the prior embodiment with respect to frequencies transmitted between the opposite Wall panel members 27' to provide a resilient dampening sound absorbing wall construction.

In FIG. 8 a further modification of sound attenuation member 41 shown in FIG. 7 is illustrated and in this instance the sound attenuation spacer member 41' is provided with side wall extensions 70 for side walls 42. Thus, on the groove edge of a panel means 16, the side wall extensions 70 provide recesses 71 which receive longitudinal edge portions 66 of core sections 32' to further interlock and position in spaced relation the edge walls of panel means 16'. The resilient interconnecting bottom wall 48' functions in the same manner as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 7.

In FIG. 9 a further modification of the sound attenuation spacer member 40 is illustrated. In this example, a Wall construction 75 may comprise a pair of juxtaposed laterally spaced panel members 76 of suitable sheet gypsum material and secured to interior surfaces 77 of such panel members 76 may be a sound attenuation spacer and stud member 78. Stud member 78 may include the side walls 42, inclined portions 49, and interconnecting U-section bottom wall 48 of the sound attenuation members shown in the prior embodiments. However, free longitudinal edges of side walls 42 are integrally formed with laterally outwardly directed wall portions 79 provided with a return portion 80, having an inturned lip portion 81. Portions 80 may have outer faces secured against panels 76 in suitable well known manner as by screws, adhesive compositions and the like. A plurality of such spacer and stud members 78 may be positioned at suitable spaced intervals along the wall panels 76 and not only function as stud members, but also function as sound attenuation members because of the resilient dampening effect of the bottom V-section wall 48.

It will be apparent that well known partition wall construction usually comprising metal C section stud members and single sheets of gypsum board secured to opposite faces of said stud may be imparted increased sound transmission loss characteristics by employing stud members of the present invention with their resilient sound dampening characteristics.

It should be noted that in each of the embodiments described above a resilient metal member is so positioned between laterally spaced wall panels that sound vibrations impinging upon exterior faces of the panels are resiliently and yieldably dampened by the sound attenuator member of this invention and particularly the U-shaped bottom wall section 48. The sound attenuation member 40 may be made of suitable metal stock and of suitable gauge, such as 24 or 28. It may be furnished in the desired length and may be readily cut to selected lengths. While in the above described embodiments at least one sound attenuation member is disposed at a joint provided between adjacent panels and particularly along longitudinal edges thereof, it will be understood that horizontally disposed sound attenuation members may be provided at top and bottom edge portions of such a panel.

It should also be noted that FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 show a sound attenuation member provided with means for attaching the member to a wall structure at the joint means provided between adjacent panels. The invention thus contemplates various modifications and changes in means for attaching a sound attenuation member between panel members of a wall structure at different types of joint means. Such joint means as illustrated provide convenient means for progressively assembling panels during erection of a wall as described above.

It is also important to note that the movable sound partition wall constructions described above are particularly directed to walls having relatively little depth in order to conserve and effectively use as much floor area as possible. Since there is very little air space between interior surfaces of the wall panels and the face panels are relatively close together, the problem of sound attenuation is most critical and demanding. The sound attenuation member of the present invention which provides a novel vibration and dampening means extending a major portion of the length of the panel and in the form of a loop, U-shape or hairpin bottom wall construction which lies in a planar zone parallel to the spaced planes of the wall panel, has been found to be most effective in increasing sound attenuation losses in relatively inexpensive simple forms of movable partition walls.

It will be understood that various modifications and changes may be made in the Wall panel construction, the manner in which the sound attenuation member is attached to such wall panels, and the manner of installation of the sound attenuation member. The invention con templates the use of such a sound attenuation member as a wall stud which provides improved sound attenuation characteristics while still performing the function of a stud. All such changes and modifications coming within the scope of the appended claims are embraced thereby.

We claim:

1. In a sound attenuated non-load bearing wall construction, the combination of:

a plurality of wall panel means having interior surfaces in spaced apart parallel planes;

and a plurality of sound attenuation spacer means extending between said interior surfaces,

each attenuation spacer means including a spacer member having side walls of greater length than width positioned against said interior surfaces,

each side Wall having a longitudinal edge portion and an inwardly angularly disposed wall portion integral with and extending away from and beyond said side wall longitudinal edge portion,

and a longitudinal wall portion extending along and away from and integral with said angularly disposed wall portions and between said interior surfaces in spaced relation thereto and resiliently interconnecting said angularly disposed wall portions.

2. A longitudinal wall construction as stated in claim 1 wherein said wall portion is of U cross-section.

3. A sound attenuation and stud spacer member for a Wall construction including spaced parallel face panels, comprising:

spaced side walls disposed parallel to said face panels 7 and having means adapted for attachment to said panels;

and a resilient wall portion including angularly disposed wall sections continuous with said side walls and extending in one direction away from and beyond 5 said side walls,

said resilient wall portion resiliently interconnecting said angularly disposed wall sections in spaced relation to edges of said side walls.

4. A member as stated in claim 3 wherein said means for attachment to said panels include laterally outwardly directed T-section portions.

5. A member as stated in claim 3 wherein said means for attachment to said panels include laterally outwardly directed angle section portions.

6. A sound attenuated wall construction comprising:

a plurality of wall panel means in spaced apart parallel planes;

a pair of edge core means between said panel means at opposite longitudinal edge margins of each panel 20 means;

and sound attenuation means carried by each core means of the pair of core means for reducing sound transmission in audio frequency ranges,

each sound attenuation means including an elongated 25 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Pomerantz 52-6241 XR Mays et al 52354 XR Balduf 52-346 Balduf 52346 XR Balduf et a1. 52-346 Shields 181-33 Hlavaty 181-33 Nelsson 52241 XR Olsen 52346 XR Loncoske 18133 Banning 52-481 XR Great Britain.

ROBERT S. WARD, IR., Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

